Posted on 03/07/2025 9:06:21 AM PST by Red Badger
The housing market is still utterly insane right now. So it's doubtlessly a relief when a prospective homeowner finds and buys their dream home.
Unless, of course, they're told that they, uhh, can't live in it:
The nightmare started last fall when [Meghan] McIntyre and her boyfriend decided to move back to Plymouth and purchase their own home. Months later, instead of moving into the house they bought, they are forced to rent an apartment while also paying the mortgage on a home they aren't allowed to live in. Instead, someone else is living in the house.
Finding out someone else is living in the house you just bought:
"It's like a never-ending nightmare," McIntyre said of her attempt to move back home to Plymouth.
It turns out that Ms. McIntyre purchased a foreclosed property. She was under the impression that it was vacant and move-in ready. But shortly before moving in, they got a call from a former occupant of the house — someone who was "never an owner," "never a tenant" and "never paid rent," yet who had lived there to care for her mother and who wanted to move back in after her mother's death.
Rather understandably, Meghan said no. And that's where the nightmare really began:
'The next day we got a call from the housing court that we had a court date,' she said.
The judge ruled that McIntyre had to give the woman the keys and allow her to stay at the house.
Raw footage of a judge forcing a woman to surrender her house to some random lady who wants to live there:
Real estate attorney Jordana Greenman said the scenario is "horrifying," but she said state law explicitly allows for someone's home to essentially be seized and used in this way:
'It is another one of those things that in Massachusetts with all of the consumer protection rules, nobody can be unhoused per se, without a court order,' Greenman explained. 'It might boil down to how much are they willing to pay to get this person out. And then they'll go, which is really very upsetting. It should not be so difficult.'
But folks, it goes beyond "difficult." The state is being outright capricious and spiteful in dealing with this situation.
A court has ordered McIntyre to "pay for a whole list of expenses" prior to starting eviction:
McIntyre said they had to pay to restore the floors after they ripped up the carpet to replace them. McIntyre is paying the utility bills and even had to put the woman up in a hotel and pay for her meals when the heat stopped working in the home.
McIntyre said this is on top of her paying for the mortgage, HOA fees and rent. She estimated they are paying around $10,000 a month just in housing.
Thankfully, there's some end in sight. The rightful homeowner and her squatter tenant reached an agreement:
Under the deal, the woman gets to stay until the end of March and McIntyre has to pay her $7,500 to put towards a new apartment.
Please remind me to never, ever buy a home in Massachusetts.
Home inspectors are on a normal curve—just like everybody else.
Our guy nailed it—used his long lists as work items for contractors—and had no major issues after their work was completed.
Our original total work estimate was rock solid as well—within five percent.
Burn it down and blame it on the squatter. Collect insurance.
Please remind me to never even consider living in Massachusetts, not that I would even consider it under any condition anyway.
Easy to get rid of the smell. Easier than squatters in some States.
If the judge won’t provide owner adequate compensation, politely burn it to the ground accidently and collect the insurance.
Poor devil! I've never been in a tavern. Although many of the contractors, plumbers, etc., clearly have. They will talk for hours about the house, the peccadilloes of the previous owners, the problems fixed, the problems foreseeable...
Another advantage is that when I need help, I just go to my files for the number of the fellow who already knows the house. This saves a lot of time, especially for wiring and plumbing issues.
And that is the smart way to do due dilegence.
Yes, Massachusetts, the state where the mayor of the largest city, which she cites as the ‘safest in the USA’ doesn’t know how many criminaliens she’s taken in and paid for, and a governor that is going on talk shows and regaling with stories about the current admin is stealing, as she pays for ciminaliens in hotels all over the Glorious People’s Commonwealth
(been this way FOREVAH - I was born and raised there and heard it all)
I have bought and sold 6 homes in my life in Texas, California and Washington State. I don't recall ever using an attorney.
Its always just me, my realtor, the mortgage company and a title company. Perhaps things work differently in other parts of the country.
I think you probably gathered from this thread—in MA you would want an attorney.
Lol.
“Ms. McIntyre purchased a foreclosed property.”
Foreclosure sales tempt people into thinking they are getting a real bargain. Maybe that happens once in a while to folks who are lucky or very diligent up front. But when you buy property at a foreclosure auction, you typically do not get rights of inspection, you can’t demand repairs, you can’t change the purchase and sale contract, you can’t back out, the Seller does not give title insurance, and you inherit the trouble of getting rid of tenants and squatters, fixing code violations, etc. Those who buy foreclosures professionally price all this into their offers.
My free advice: 1) Pass on foreclosures unless you know how to anticipate the problems, pay accordingly, and have the skills/resources to deal with them. 2) Never buy real estate in a communist area.
I don’t think Title Insurance would have prevented this....................
Title insurance varies widely by state—and there is also a (little known) menu of options.
A lower priced option has minimal coverage while there can be custom and more expensive coverages that include a wide range of unusual circumstances.
Given the squatter situation in leftist states there could be optional coverage to deal with that in those states—only the title companies would have that information.
Never go to the police or courts. Hire bikers to throw them out.
Yes city and states elections one needs to know who and what they are voting for.
Few do
Judge needs to be beaten so badly he can never return to work.
This nation has a problem with arrogant uncountable judges.
McIntyre said they had to pay to restore the floors after they ripped up the carpet to replace them. McIntyre is paying the utility bills and even had to put the woman up in a hotel and pay for her meals when the heat stopped working in the home.
Scratch what I said earlier. This Judge should be shot. This is tyranny.
Repeat after me: Gee, Officer. How was I supposed to know that a motorcycle gang would come along and forcibly evict the squatter? I was at the movies at the time.
Naturally the RAT legislators don’t have the time or inclination to fix the law
My purpose was to warn people about some pitfalls of foreclosures. I agree that title insurance wouldn’t have prevented the problems in this case, which appears to be about possession of the premises rather than title to the property. The Buyer choose...poorly.
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